was, Flicker received a nick to his shoulder, but was otherwise unhurt. Reckless beast that he was, the dragonet shrugged off the near-miss and merely flitted further into Ra’aba’s chambers! Lia searched with her senses. A false flagstone? A trip wire or other traps and triggers? Clearly, Ra’aba wished no disturbance in his absence. Her skin prickled. There was something in here, something dangerous …
Magic, Flicker’s voice entered her mind. I’ll see if I can disarm it …
A magical trap? Her training had not included much on the subject, although her readings of ancient lore had suggested that Blue Dragons in particular were adept at constructing fiendishly clever magical traps. As the dragonet hovered, the Human felt that unmistakable prickle of magic at the back of her retinae. Mercy. Flicker had been right.
I think that’s it. Proceed with caution, said the dragonet.
Lia crept into the room. Clothes in a chest. Weapons. Parchment and quill pens arranged with exactitude on a wooden desk tucked into the corner, where it might receive light from another of the tiny, square windows. Led by instinct, Lia approached the desk. Ra’aba–or someone–had been copying a scroll. A half-finished fragment peeked from beneath a neat stack of what appeared to be sealed royal missives, scrolls prepared with the royal authority of the new King of Fra’anior. But the scrap was out of place. Just a single sheet.
Her eyes fell on the last line, and a gasp tore out of her chest.
… third Great Race will emerge from the shadows,
And take their place at destiny’s helm.
The flowing, beautiful script delighted the eye. The contents paralysed her. The prophecy! They had just stumbled upon the prophecy by blind luck … chills racked her body. What terrors and what hope might this knowledge represent?
Her hand reached out, and touched the parchment.
* * * *
Voicing a soundless scream, Flicker hurled himself through the air. Flame erupted from a tiny hole in the wall above the desk. Straw-head was already ducking, alert to the danger but too slow, her hand scraping the pile of parchment onto the floor as she tumbled sideways. Burning scraps blew off the table as the dragonet flashed between his girl and the flame. She clutched something to her chest, snuffing it out by rolling rapidly across the floor.
Another danger-sound, a snick from above the bed! Poisoned darts skittered off the stones where Lia had been just a dragonet’s heartbeat before, but her swift motion saved her. Of course, she clobbered the back of her head on the bedframe. For a second, the Human girl lay still.
Flicker, darling?
Ooh, he could sing flame-songs all day when she said that! If only the Tourmaline lout could hear how dear she held him in her regrettably singular heart, he would turn into a Green from sheer jealousy. I’m fine, Flicker replied gruffly. Hotter than usual, but you already appreciate my lava-hot–
Lia clucked crossly. Took care of that trap, did you, mister daring dragonet?
Saved your hide from a roasting, didn’t I?
She turned the parchment over in her fingers. “Oh, toss it in a Cloudlands volcano …”
Half of the page was scorched, charred holes riddling the parchment as if worms had attacked a leaf. Flicker flinched at the shock and disappointment writ on her pallid face. He thought she might be sick.
He said, Tuck it away for later, fire-eyes. We’ve your family to save.
Not straw-head? Wretchedly, fingers trembling, she folded the parchment and secured it inside her belt pouch.
Never again, said Flicker. But he felt the sting of having failed Lia. He must gather his courage, for to have her look so defeated again on his account would surely extinguish a dragonet’s fires.
They penetrated deeper into the strange Human warren. Flicker did not understand this Human desire to delve into the bowels of the Island to retrieve metals and stones of dubious value. Lesser Dragons loved treasure, but what would a dragonet want with cold stones which could never warm a warren? Give him twenty warren-mates any day.
They passed several guard posts by the expedient of sticking to the shadows and once, crawling beneath an iron gateway which could shut to seal off the inner part of the mine from the outer world, he presumed, but there was gap enough beneath it for an audacious dragonet and his petite Human companion. Hualiama had to remove her Nuyallith blades to fit through. Soon, the darkness assumed a ruddy glow, and they came to the edge of an enormous shaft riven into the living